Broken Playthings
by Shmeeko
Summary: -"Do you trust me?" Ikuto's voice stopped her excuse in it's tracks. Amu rolled the words over in her head, understanding that this was not a question she could dance her way around. He wanted an answer, one way or another. -Amuto. BEWARE THE FLUFF.-
1. Let

_**Cause when I arrive, I bring the fire~**_

**Author's Introductory Notes: **SUP, DAWGS? Shmee here, crashing into the Shugo chara world with a BANG. Yes so, here, have my first SC fic, and whaddaya know, it's a brilliant AMUTO pairing 3 because that pairing is excellent, no? Yes. Of course it is. So yes. This will be realtively short, probably finished within two weeks or so. BUT IT WILL BE FLUFFY. VERY. VERY. FLUFFY. It's to help me get over this block-esque type thing sitting on my muse. And because I really like this pairing. I'll probably come back to this in a while x3 I just love 'em both :3 SO ANYWAY. I hate these, but I'm gonna put one down anywhoosits:

**Disclaimer**: This is a fanfiction. Therefore, I do not own the original 'fiction.' Comprende?

Of course you do.

_**Enjoy~**_

* * *

_Tap. Tap._

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

_TapTapTapTapTapTapTapTap._

Hinamori Amu forced herself away from the brink of sleep, her eyes opening slowly as the persitant noise invaded her semi-concious state of mind. Rubbing at an eye and letting out a wide yawn, she pushed herself upright and looked around. The digital clock on her bedside table read 2:02. It wasn't anywhere near time to get up. Everything was still very dark, save for the usual moonlight the streamed through her open window.

_Tap, tap._

Now able to place where the noise was coming from, Amu turned to peer over her shoulder and at the window near the foot of her bed. A familiar sillouhette was blocking most of the moonlight, the figure's posture relaxed and at ease as it stood waiting.

Amu clicked on a lamp and threw off her covers before her bare feet met the cold floor and she was already on the move to unlock and open the window.

"Ikuto?" She was surprised at her own voice, how meek and hushed it was. After a moment of thought, she decided it wasn't all that surprising. It was two in the morning, she had just woken up and her throat felt dry. At times like these, she didn't need to sound anything but sleepy. "What're you doing out so late? No, wait." Drowsily, Amu pressed her palm into the side of her head. "Let me change that. What're you doing _here_ so late?"

In response, the boy tilted his head to one side and flicked his gaze to the small green creature hanging off his shoulder.

"Lost and found."

Suu's arms were folded, serving as a pillow as she stared blankly ahead through half-opened eyes which were glazed over with fatigue. It took her a moment to recognize her owner standing in front of her, dimly illuminated by the light of that weak lamp. When she did, the small guardian lazily floated off the boy's shoulder and crossed the threshold into the familiar room.

"Sorry, Amu-chan." She murmered. "I got distracted when you were going home. I saw Mr. Doggy again and went to say hello...but when I turned around you had gone, desu."

"So why didn't you just come home?" Slightly more awake now, Amu reached forward and held out her hands, offering the poor thing a place to collapse.

"I got lost, desu. Mr. Doggy tried to take me home but we only got more lost." Suu gratefully snuggled into her owner's grasp, yawning loudly as she was carried over to her egg, which lay empty by her sisters'. Had it not been so early in the morning, perhaps Amu would've been a little cross at the clumsy Chara for being so careless. But in return, Amu hadn't even noticed her third guardian had gone missing and besides, she was back now, right?

"Sometimes, you're so troublesome, Suu. But nevermind that, you're home now, safe and sound."

"Safe and sound, desu." The little green guardian sleepily repeated her owner's words before she slowly snapped her egg shut.

The redhead smiled and let out a little sigh, before giving the egg a little pat.

She turned to address the boy who'd invited himself into her room and slid the door shut behind him. She chose to ignore the fact that he'd intruded into her room in light for a more positive thought. He'd helped Suu out, even though he didn't need to.

"Thank you." Amu said in honesty, before she was hit with a wave of unease. Right, he'd delivered her guardian safe and sound, he'd let himself in and...now what? Did he not plan to just up and leave? She shifted in the pause after her thanks, feeling akward. The boy seemed to pick up on this, for it didn' take much longer for him to reply.

"It was nothing." Ikuto's voice rang out smooth and cool, his hands in his pockets and his posture eased. The way he looked, casually dressed and hardly a hint of drowsiness about him, lead the middle-schooler to beleive he hadn't slept at all. At least, not that night.

However, Amu was quick to mentally slap that worry out of her. The cat-boy was smirking now, she feared she may have just walked into a trap. Even so, that look of worry that momentarily flashed across her face was the signal the teen had been waiting for.

The game had started.

"Sorry to have woken you." He said, leaning forward with that playful expression fixed on his face. Everything about his tone and posture told the girl he wasn't sorry at all. Waking her had just been a pleasant side-effect of turning in her little lost Guardian Chara. "Anything else I can do for you?" He was closer now, completely oblivious to those little invisible bubbles Amu had dubbed 'Personal Space.'

"No, no." Amu said, lifting her hands and shaking her head. "But it's really late, we should both be sleeping. There's school tomorrow, isn't there?" She decided to leave out the fact that Ikuto only attended school when he felt like it. But after the boy's next move, it seemed as if she could've chosen her words a little better. The boy nodded in agreement, that smile never leaving his face, before swiftly turning 90 degrees and collapsing onto her bed.

"Good idea," he said flatly, "g'night." He was quick to snatch up the covers and tuck himself in, leaving Amu standing out by the window, a dumbfounded expression fixed on her face. She was still for a few seconds, calming the angry outburst that surely would've woken the entire house had she let it loose. She let out a long breath, propped her hands on her hips and grumbled.

"Stupid cat." She reached down and tugged on the end of her covers, trying to pull them off the teen. "It's too early for this. Don't you have mice to chase or something?"

He ignored her and simply kept clutching firmly to the blanket so it could not be removed. It was then that she noticed Yoru, who'd probably entered around the same time Ikuto had, only he'd had the luck to go unseen. He was curled up on top of the blue egg, one eye open as he gave the pinkette a cheeky smile. He stiffened as the girl moved around the bed and towards him, but obviously the small feline wasn't on the top of her priority list. Shrugging off the lack of attention, Yoru simply began to shift his weight back and fourth before he heard some groans of complaint from inside the coloured egg at the motion.

When the blue chara poked her head out to see the cause, she could see nothing out of the norm. Of course, there was Amu still standing at the side of her bed with the shape of Ikuto under the covers, but she didn't find that unusual. Accepting the rocking as some sort of phenomenom, she tucked back into her bed.

It didn't take long for the rocking to start again, as Yoru had clearly started a game of his own to play.

However, this commotion went completely unnoticed by the pinkette by the bed.

"Hey, Ikuto." She prodded him, leaning over the side of the bed in order to reach. He didn't respond. "C'mon, can't you do this some other night, at an earlier time?" Again, silence met her words. She let out a sigh and sat on the very edge of her bed, once again fighting to quell a flare of anger. She didn't find it surprising that the overgrown cat could waltz in, steal her bed and fall asleep in such short time. "Stupid cat," she repeated quietly, "I'm sleepy..."

Just as she was about to rub at her eyes again, a firm grip pulled her down onto the bed. Seconds afterwards, she was gathered up in the older boy's arms. He'd rolled over and now held the pink-haired girl in a tight embrace, holding her to his chest as his breath played at her ear.

"So sleep." He murmured quietly. The girl's heart doubled it's pace.

"H-How can I sleep like this?" Amu demanded, voice shaking as her face began it's gradual colour change into a deep red. She had a sneaking suspicion that the teen was smirking as he tightened his grip. His voice got all the quieter as she felt his lips brush against her ear.

"You'll manage."

Those words prompted her into a bit of a struggle. Nothing too violent, she didn't want to give anyone else in the house any reason to come bursting in. She squirmed just enough to try and loosen his grip so she could sit upright. She was sure of it, her face would've been as red as a tomato by then. Ignoring the heat of her cheeks, she gave a half-hearted push at the boy's arm. At last, he slowly pushed himself up, arching over her as he fixed his gaze on hers.

"Do you really want me to leave?" He asked, all trace of mockery gone from his tone. His eyes were unreadable, giving the girl no hint as to what the proper response would be. She pouted childishly and huffed, asking herself that question again in order to prepare herself to give the right answer. She had a feeling her mind and her heart were thinking two entirely different things. Did she want him to leave?

"Y-yes." Her stutter was her weakness, for that smirk was back in place within the minute and he'd draped himself over her once more, treating her body and warmth like his own personal teddy bear.

"Say it like you mean it, and I will."

She had no doubt that if she could do that, if she could really tell him to leave without faltering, he'd leave in a heartbeat. But...did she want him to?

Struck with an early-morning stroke of genius, she attempted to change the direction of the semi-conversation.

"Why do you want to stay?"

"Because it's cold outside, it's warm in here and I'm too lazy to go all the way back home." Ikuto's response was accented by him turning his head slightly, burying his face in her pillow as he took a breath in. Amu quielty cursed his indirect responses, she was hoping for a much deeper reply. She got the feeling that while the big cat wasn't lying, he wasn't being entirely honest.

The room fell into silence as Amu contemplated the curiosity that _was_ the cat beside her. Whenever he was around, her heartbeat always got faster and there was always this funny feeling in her stomach. She liked being around him – despite his occaisonal pervertedness – and found that despite how much Tadase would insist otherwise, he really wasn't such a bad guy, yet still she couldn't figure out why Tadase loathed him so much. She considered asking the boy next to her, but considering his earlier response to her serious question had been so casual, she didn't think asking him would tell her anything she didn't already know.

She felt her face heating up again, this time from frustration of being so confused. However, the teen at her side interperated as something else. That, or he was just looking for an opportunity to tease her.

"What're you thinking, you perverted kid?" Ikuto had turned his head so his quiet voice was in her ear again. She answered him by squirming a little more.

"I'm not a perverted kid! Besides, _you're_ the one that invited yourself into _my_ bed."

"You've yet to kick me out."

"N-no! I told you to leave!"

"And I told you that I would if you really wanted me to."

"B-b-but-"

"Still not very convincing."

"Gah! You're such a pain!" Amu squeezed her eyes shut and pouted, letting out a loud sigh.

"You wouldn't have it otherwise."

That was it, he was thuroughly abusing her lack of certainty, and the girl decided it was time to turn the tables. She struggled a little harder, rolling over and dragging the boy with her. She'd meant to drop him off the side of the bed, but her witty plan had backfired. They both hit the floor, her fall broken by the teen beneath her until he quickly rolled over, poised on his hands and knees directly overtop of her.

There was a heartbeat of silence, before his eyes narrowed and that famed smirk made a re-appearance.

"Deja vu."

"Amu-chan? Is everything alright?" Amu turned her head in unison with the blue-haired boy, looking in alarm towards her door. Her mother's voice was greeted with a rushed reply.

"I'm fine!" She called back quickly. "Just fell out of bed." She shot a glare at Ikuto, trying to will him off of her and tell him to hide – or leave, whatever worked. He simply kept that sly smile in place and lowered himself closer, causing the girl's temperature to rise dramatically and her face go impossibly redder.

"Oh. Okay, as long as you're alright." The pinkette held her breath for a few agonizing seconds, waiting until the footsteps of her mother retreating to bed vanished completely.

"Ugh. Ikuto, why do you do this to me?"

"Because you interest me."

"Y-yeah, but can't I interest you at some other time of day?"

"Of course, but it's usually far more entertaining at this hour. Tell me, does Tadase ever get this...intimate with you?" He was still on top of her, having long since trapped her gaze within his. He rested his forehead on hers, still smirking at her obvious unease at this closeness.

"W-why are you bringing him up?"

"Spurr of the moment."

Amu knew she didn't have to answer that question of his. He already knew. Tadase was far too polite - or timid - to ever do something this rash. In one way, it was kind of cute how the blonde king respected her enough to take things at her pace, but in another...she kind of liked Ikuto's attention. It meant, in some small way, that she was the object of complete interest to someone for at least some amount of time.

It was just a (happy?) coincidence that the someone also happened to be rather good-looking.

"Perverted thoughts again, _Amu?_"

"N-no!"

"Again with the stutter. You're a horrible liar." As Ikuto spoke, the girl forced herself to shut her eyes and tear her gaze away from his hypnotizing stare. She would not be pulled into it again! She had school tomorrow, she needed her sleep and this lousy cat was being no help whatsoever.

"Alright!" She planted both hands firmly on his chest and pushed him up. Granted with space to move, Amu slid out from under him and stood up. "You can stay!" She pointed at him, holding two fingers up. "On two conditions!"

"Oh?"

"One! You're not allowed to keep me awake!"

"And?"

"Two! Don't let yourself get caught!"

"That's it?"

"Yes, that's it." The girl gave a curt nod and jumped back into bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. Seconds later, she felt that familiar weight on the bed. "W-What are you doing?"

"You said those were your conditions. Nowhere did you say I had to sleep on the floor."

Amu moved her head forward in order to smack it off the wall to scold herself for being so easily tricked. She decided not to argue it and simply muttered an angry goodnight, choosing again to ignore that quiet chuckle of victory from the cat.

Surprisingly enough, it took her only a few moments for her to nod off.

Maybe it was because she was so warm.

Maybe that warmth was because, possibly out of possesive desire, the teen behind her had scooted forward and once again wrapped his arms around her. She was so small in comparison as the older boy's body had curled around hers, but she'd been too far gone into sleep to muster up the will to push him off. Even if she did have the energy, she wasn't entirely sure pushing him off is what she would've done.

* * *

Amu awoke to the sound of Ran bursting out of her egg with a happy 'good morning' cheer. Suu was next to awaken, Miki being the last and looking rather cross. Yoru's game had gone on well into the night and it was clear by the way the artistic girl floated slowly out of her egg that she had barely slept at all.

"Wake up, Amu-chan, Wake-up, Amu-chan!" Ran cheered, dancing overtop of the lump in the bed. After a moment's pause, she noticed that the lump was unusually large. "Amu-chan, have you gained weight?" She reached up and pulled back the covers, surprised to be greeted with a head of blue hair, unlike the pink hair she'd been expecting. "I-I-Ikuto!" She squealed loudly, the last of the three guardian characters to notice.

"Oh, so he decided to stay the night, desu?" Suu hummed as she idly went about fixing up Amu's bag, readying it for her trip to school. Miki had indeed noted the two earlier that morning, so the shock was suffered by Ran alone.

"Amu-chan, Amu-chan!" She cried, her chant taking an urgent turn. "Wake up, Amu-chan!" The little pink guardian zipped around anxiously as the girl below her slowly brought herself into the waking world. She yawned, before nuzzling instinctively into the strong chest in front of her.

Wait.

What?

She blinked, taking in the situation with a bit of alarm. She had rolled over at some point and had been sleeping against Ikuto's chest, his arms wrapped firmly around her waist. His head was tilted downwards slightly, which lead her to beleive he'd been resting it against hers as they slept. Slowly, she lifted her gaze upwards, meeting the boy's half-opened stare, which was still plagued with sleep. Her heart kicked into rapid action, her face flushed into a bright crimson and she pushed him back, untangling their legs as his arms fell limp against the bed.

She scrambled akwardly off the end of the matress, but it was clear the teen had drifted back to sleep. Using the opportunity to try and restore the colour to her face and slow her heartbeat, Amu grabbed her uniform and scurried out into the bathroom, careful to shut the door behind her.

The middle-schooler was ready in record time, for she burst back into her room minutes later, afraid if she left him unattended for too long, Ikuto would be discovered. The problem with this rush is that Amu was left with fourty-five extra minutes to do nothing until breakfast. She considered waking her 'guest,' only to go back on this thought as she plopped down with a sigh at her desk.

"Are you okay, Amu-chan?" Ran was at her side, a hopeful smile on her face as she patted the girl's head with a pom-pom.

"I'm fine."

"You didn't lose too much sleep, did you desu?"

"No, no. I think I actually slept really well."

"Maybe it was 'cause you didn't have someone nudging you all night long." Miki's foul mood instantly dampened the room as she sat down in front of the pinkette and began to scribble in her notebook. No sooner than when she had finally settled into a comfortable rythmn to draw did a certain black cat come creeping up behind her, yelling loudly to break her focus and giggling madly at the result.

The blue clad girl spun quickly in attempt to whack the cat with her notebook, only to find he'd jumped up into the air to avoid the track of her swing.

"Missed me, Nya!" He teased, sticking out his tongue as the artist tore into the air after him, still attemping to beat him silly with her notebook. Miki's cross yells were nearly drowned out by Yoru's giggling and continuous chants of 'Missed me, Nya, ya missed me!'

"Oi, Yoru, pipe down." Yoru obediently stopped still at the sound of Ikuto's half-awake voice from the bed. Miki saw this as her chance and barrelled into the small feline, beating a steady rythmn into his head as she whacked him over and over again with her notebook.

"Ow, stop it nya! That hurts!" Miki took a few more swings before she was satisfied and floated back down to the desk, attempting to resume her sketching.

"Ikuto, you really 'ought to get up soon, you're not staying here all day."

"Mm."

"Mm? What does that mean?"

Ikuto waved a hand lazily, rolling over and pushing off the blankets in order to lie there, semi-concious, staring in Amu's direction. The girl was wise enough to look away before she was caught in that gaze of his. She grabbed her bag and stood, deciding it was a good day to be early. "I'm going to go get food," she said flatly, "and then I'm going to school. I don't care what you do, just don't get caught."

"Eh?" Ikuto's long sigh was accompanied with the motion of him slowly sitting up, rubbing at an eye with the back of his wrist. Amu chuckled inwardly at the kittish behaviour. "You're not gonna feed me?"

"No, you can get your own food!" Her voice was firm. Well, certainly no wavering there.

Amu stood, expecting another witty remark or plea for food, something of the like. Instead, he was silent for some time, head turned towards the window as if something interesting had just flown by.

_Maybe a bird to chase._

"Hey, Amu, skip with me."

"What?"

"School. Don't go."

"And do what, spend the whole day with you?" The girl propped her hands on her hips and stared, only to get caught in that gaze as he turned his head and answered her question without words. She stiffened, before letting out a sigh and shaking her head. "Even if I wanted to, I can't skip school, my parents would never allow that."

"I can fix that."

"How so?"

"Just leave it to me."

"I-Ikuto, I can't skip school, my parents and my friends-"

"Do you trust me?" Ikuto cut her off, stopping her excuse in it's tracks. The pinkette took a moment to respond, rolling those words over in her mind. She trusted him, yeah, but this was something she would normally never do without a good reason. Besides, if Tadase ever found out she was skipping school to be with Ikuto, what would he think?

"Ikuto, I-"

"Do you trust me?" She was cut off yet again and she realized this was not a question he was going to let her dance around. She had to answer it one way or another. For a while, she simply stared back at the blank look she was getting, trying to beat him in a staring contest he wasn't actually competing in. Finally, she let out a sigh for the umpteenth time that morning.

"Yeah, I do."

"Then let's go." At this, he stood. Yoru was at his side in an instant, smiling devillishly. Amu cast a glance at her own guardian characters, looking for help in some way. Miki seemed a little cross, but her preferances had always been in artistics rather than academics. School (assuming there was no arts classes) was never very interesting to her. Suu was looking up at Amu with wide, waiting eyes. Obviously, there'd be no help from her. Lastly, she flicked her gaze to Ran, who's reaction surprised her the most.

"Go for it!" She cheered.

"Eh? You support me skipping?"

"Well, not so much skipping, but remember, I'm your would-be self, the one that's easily honest and friendly and active! You can't really be active sitting at a desk for a long time, and besides, if you're honest with yourself, you'll know you kinda wanna skip!" She put up two fingers in a 'victory' sign, giving the girl a friendly wink. "What's wrong with one day?"

"So?" Ikuto had moved in front of her, ducking down to her height. The girl noticed his ears and tail were out, a playful smirk now fixed on his jaw. His tail wove mischeviously from side to side, as if baiting her into the more carefree answer. The smirk stretched into a playful grin as he spoke again. "Do you trust me?"

.

.

.

"Yeah, let's do it."

* * *

**Footnotes!**

So from this point on, you'll find everything I have to say at the BOTTOM of this thing, (Unless it's real important and whatnot, but I doubt it will be.)

That being said, now that you've suffered through reading this beast, let me know what you think! Click that button down there at the bottom and review! If you review, I garuntee you that I will (probably) finish the next chapter faster! x3

**Toodles for now, folks~**

**Shmee.**


	2. Me

**_If you want to move your mind, just move your body~_**

* * *

"I-I'm leaving!" Amu felt rather odd calling down to her family from her room. She was sure she heard a confused call in response, wondering why she hadn't come down for breakfast and possible questioning what on earth had possessed her to leave so early. Even if she'd heard her family's calls clear enough, it wouldn't matter. The girl had been grabbed firmly by the wrist and dragged over to the balcony.

Her 'captor' jumped up onto the ledge, pulling the girl up with him and wrapping her arms around his neck. Before she could complain (or ask what on earth the overgrown feline planned to do), said teen hooked his arms under her legs, pushed off the ledge and into leapt the air. Amu bit back a scream of surprise as the street passed several meters beneath her and Ikuto landed softly on the neigboring roof. The one she could see from her room. The one across the street.

He didn't stop there, instead running along the rooftop and taking another swift jump in order to close the distance to the next surface. Amu chanced a look down, realizing that he'd suddenly taken them a lot higher than she had expected. Instinctively, she tightened her grip on Ikuto and squeezed her eyes shut, terrified he'd let her fall. Ran had fallen behind, so there'd be no flying escape if that ever happened.

"Do you trust me?" The boy beneath her repeated as they leapt and bounded across the rooftops, the sun officially over the horizon and smiling down warmly on the two. It seemed like it would be a wonderous day.

"Y-yeah. I said I did, d-d-didn't I?"

"Then stop strangling me. I won't let you fall."

Oh great. He'd read her mind again.

Even so, Amu loosened her grip and forced herself to relax, letting her eyes ease open. She took in a breath and forced herself to examine the scenery below her. For a moment, she'd thought that maybe the boy planned to take her to that amusement park again. She wouldn't mind, spending a day there on the rides woudn't be a bad way to skip school. But she soon recognized that this was not the route to the hidden park. It was in the complete opposite direction.

"Hey, Ikuto?"

He grunted.

"Where are we going?" At her question, she heard him let out a content 'hmph.' He was probably smirking.

"You'll see."

From that point on, Ikuto's path slowly brought them lower and lower to the ground. He would still rebound off rootops and lampposts, but steadily ground zero was getting closer and closer. The pinkette could only assume there was some sort of terrain change coming up, or maybe they were just close to the destination? She didn't know where they could be going. She knew they were somewhere on the outskirts of town, towards the lake she'd only been to once or twice with her mama and papa.

She had to admit, it was impressive that Ikuto was able to carry himself and her this far, so fast. It'd only been a couple minutes, and by taking clever shortcuts and soaring through the air from rooftop-to-rooftop, he'd managed to cross the city. Amu had always been a little skeptic about his alley-cat nature, but if it made travel this easy, it certainly was convenient.

As the last of the larger buildings died out, Ikuto hit the ground and slowed down, coming to a halt at the end of a long street. Beyond the yellow-and-black checkered sign that stated the road's end, there was a dusty path that wound up a grassy hill. Amu stared up at it in awe, admiring how steep the climb got towards the top of the hill. She wondered what it looked like at the top, could she see the whole city from there?

"Alright, get off." Ikuto's voice cut into her daydream, followed by the sudden pain of her back connecting with concrete as she was promptly dropped down.

"Ow! That was concrete!" She protested as she rubbed her lower back, grumbling crossly. After a moment, she jumped back to her feet and shot a challenging glare to the blue-haired boy, who glanced over his shoulder and flashed her a lazy smile.

"We're even now. Just be thankful I didn't drop _you _on your _head._"

"Hey, it wasn't from that high up!" Amu continued to glare crossly, even as the boy slowly turned and raised an eyebrow at her defiant expression. His smile had vanished temporarily, but it didn't take long for it to creep back into place, his eyes narrowing with mischeif as his tail snaked back and fourth.

"Sorry, do you want me to kiss it better?"

"I-Ikuto!" Amu huffed, deciding it was better just to stop before she made the situation any worse. The cat-boy had made note of her surrender and his expression grew triumphant. He turned around and stepped over the chain that marked the end of the route.

"Come on then. I'm not carrying you all the way up." Even as he spoke, he was already making his way up the path. The pink-haired girl cast a thoughtful gaze over her shoulder before ducking under the chain herself and jogging up behind him. She found it a little hard to keep up with his naturally long strides, but she knew she would manage.

At least, until the climb actually become more of a climb.

She fell behind as she struggled to keep up with his pace, which had only slowed a little. He walked with his hands in his pockets, posture still irreversably eased. She didn't know how he could do this without showing so much of a tiny bit of strain. Wasn't he tired or thirsty? She sure was. She was also beginning to think lazing around in school may have been a better option than to suddenly go moutain climbing unprepared. Had she known this was what she was getting herself into, she would've at least brought something to drink.

At least there were a few trees around to shade her, though.

"Oi." Ikuto was suddenly higher up the hill, staring down at her and looking bored. "Perhaps I should carry you. You're obviously not cut out for this 'physical activity' stuff."

Amu clenched her fists and felt an eyebrow twitch in annoyance. There was a lazy grin on the boy's face as his tail flicked behind him. His ears twitched occaisonally as Ikuto obviously contented himself in watching the young girl struggle up the steep hill he found so easy to scale. She couldn't wait until she caught up, she'd give him a peice of her mind, maybe drag him partway down the hill by that tail of hi-

Wait. That was it. The reason Ikuto found the hill so easy to climb while she was slowly draining her energy. While Yoru was nowhere in sight, the blue-haired teen had chara changed. Cats had stamina, didn't they? And weren't they good at climbing things too? Even if they all weren't, this particular cat seemed like the active kind of cat. Oh, wait.

The Alley Cat.

Duh.

"You're cheating!" She suddenly exclaimed, pointing up at him and narrowing her eyes. His expression barely changed, aside from how his ears perked and his smile took a sly turn.

"Am I now?" He leapt up and skipped backwards, propelling himself a little further up the hill. "How so?"

"How so?" Amu echoed, trying to clamber up the hill behind him. This would be so much easier if she chara changed with Ran. Would-be self or not, the extra boost of Ran's optimistic energy would be fantastic right about now. "What do you mean, how so? You've gone all alley-cat and I'm stuck trying to keep up on my own!"

"Your point?"

"It would be a lot easier if Ran were around. Then _you'd_ be the one having troubles keeping up!"

"That sounds like a challenge, Amu."

"Maybe it is."

"Shame though, doesn't look like your little friend is around to help."

"Guess again!" There was a crash in the canopy above before a small pink creature came shooting down, closely followed by a similar green one, who was humming cheerfully to herself.

"We've been here the whole time, Desu!" She said cheerfully, oblivious to the fact that she'd just let information slip that made Amu a little cross. They'd been there the whole time?

"Yeah! We just needed the perfect moment to break the ice!" The cheerful pink chara stuck out a thumb and winked, attempting to top off the whole 'dramatic feel'. She didn't even notice Amu had come up behind her until her fingers closed around the small girl.

"You mean, you've been watching me suffer for the whole time while that...that _cat_ has been cheating his way up the hill?!" Trapped in the girl's clutches, Ran could do nothing but a chuckle nervously at her owner's angered tone.

"I suppose that wasn't the best of your ideas, desu." Suu said sweetly to her sister, trying to be sympathetic as Amu bopped the reddish chara on the head over and over again.

"Amu, ow!" She said. "Okay, okay! I get it. Just make the change! From someone tired and cranky to someone energetic and cheerful! Hop, step, jump!" There was a pop as the clip in Amu's hair changed to the familiar heart, wings appearing by her wrists and feet.

"Alright, now it's even!" The pinkette took off running, passing Ikuto for the second time and ignoring his amused chuckle at her determined cry. She raced as fast as she could up the hill, leaping where she needed an extra boost. She was determined to beat that blasted cat at his own game. She wouldn't lose to him a second time! Come to think of it, what counted as her first loss? How many times had she lost since then? Would this only be the second-

Amu crashed to the ground, skidding quickly to a halt on the dusty path. She cursed her distraction, having slipped on a protruding rock in the path. To make matters worse, she could hear footsteps coming up behind her.

"Impressive," a familiar voice teased. "I barely had to try."

Burying her face in her arms on the ground, Amu bit back tears. She didn't know why she was so close to suddenly crying. Maybe it was the pain of a scraped knee that suddenly felt as if it was on fire. Maybe it was the shame of having made such a big fool of herself, which wasn't really unusual, but because she'd been so extreme about it, her big crash and seemed to burn her pride and knee all the worse.

She lay there for a while, her cross pin having long since returned to it's position in her hair, Ran and Suu hovering above her with obvious worry. She didn't want to get up and have to face Ikuto, crying like the little kid she was because she got hurt in more than one way. Her pink head simply remained buried in her arms, making no noise or movement whatsoever.

"Jeeze, Amu." She felt warm arms hands grip at her arms and gently hoist her up. She kept her head low, still not ready to 'get up.' Those hands travelled down her arms, slowly sliding around her waist and pulling her close to the teen standing behind her. She felt a weight on her head, aware that the boy was resting his cheek there. Amu wasn't sure if it was an act of caring or just him being lazy.

As if he'd read her mind, she felt him tighten his grip and shift his head, his face right beside hers as his smooth voice plagued her ear once again.

"You're such a kid."

"Then why don't you leave?" The girl's voice was hushed. It was clear his words had brought up something she'd given a lot of thought. So instead of replying instantly, the boy gave her the time she needed to talk herself out. "I mean, why hang out with some kid with me? Don't you have better things to do then waste valuable time on some little girl?" She lowered her head further and shifted, as if trying to get away from him. He would have none of this, however, and kept his grim firm as she continued. "You're so confusing. You're always teasing me and I can never tell when you're being serious or not...and then you say things...and you're right." Her voice was barely a whisper now. "I am just a kid."

A tense silence fell over the scene, the two guardian charas watched from a safe distance, concern etched on their faces as a terrible ache pulled at their hearts. However, they knew better than to try and go comfort their owner and friend. This wasn't something that could be fixed by themselves. Besides, it seemed like the person who could fix it was already making a decent attempt to.

Ikuto let out a sigh and turned his head, giving the girl a cat-like nuzzle, unable to resist the need for contact and the instinct that came along with his ears and tail. His grip still remained firm, surrounding her as he shut his eyes and breathed in her oddly sweet scent, finding that his words came naturally so long as she was right there, so close and so warm.

"Amu..." He breathed, voice just as quiet as hers had been. "I think you worded it wrong."

The girl lifted her head slightly.

"I'm wasting time with a _valuable_ little girl, and I'm doing so because I _want_ to." His grip shifted, grabbing her by the waist and quickly spinning her around. She was back in his hold in record time, this time pressed to his chest, her head turned to one side as it rested against him. One of his arms curled around the small of her back and the other behind her head. His was grip firm, but gentle. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be."

"I-Ikuto..." Slowly, the girl's arms came up, sliding hesitantly up his back before gripping tightly, returning his embrace as she shut her eyes tightly. "I-I think-"

"Oh my. A crisis already."

"Ikuto!" Amu pulled back, looking up to the boy to find a playful smirk in place once again. Suddenly, she went flying forward, her face connecting with the boy's chest as he pushed lightly on her head.

"Got you." He said, letting the girl struggle to get free for a while. He was specifically waiting for her to give a good shove, and when she did he was quick to let go and watch as the pinkette struggled to stay on balance.

"Ikuto! You perverted cat!" Amu whirled on him, face red as ever as she waved her arms about madly, trying to accent her rage. "Ugh, you're so annoying! Why, I bet that whole thing was just some twisted game for you! Well you know what? I'm not gonna fall for it! Haha! I was kidding! The whole thing was a joke! I win, you fail. Now C'mon, girls! Let's get to the top of this hill."

And off she marched, Ran and Suu marching in single file behind her.

"Ikuto-nya!" Yoru was at his owner's side in a flash, having burst out from the trees behind him. He had been doing some teasing of his own up until the moment he decided to find out where Ikuto had gone off to. Of course, his timing was off by a couple seconds: he'd just missed the reason for the boy's contented expression. "You seem happy, did something good happen while I was gone, nya?"

"You could say that."

"Hey, Ikuto!" Amu was pretty far up ahead now. She'd turned around and started to wave back to him. "I'm going to beat you to the top!"

"Is she?" Yoru echoed, looking from the girl to his owner with a mischevious grin. Ikuto's ears twitched.

"Not a chance."

With that, he took off at a blurring speed.

-

When the two finally burst out onto the hilltop clearing, (Amu had decided it was more accurately a mountaintop. This hill was freaking _huge!_) Amu was in the lead. She hopped, skipped and jumped past Ikuto whenever he'd managed to get by her, and now gleefully ran in the lead. The pinkette had a feeling her opponent wasn't really trying, but so long as she won she didn't really care how! Whether or not he lost on purpose, she would never let Ikuto live it down!

"Oi, Amu!" He called behind her as the very peak of the monsterous hill was only a few short steps away. There was no way she was stopping now. "Amu!" He called again. The warning in his voice went completely over her head, and she dashed up to the top, leaping into the air and plotting to cheer her victory, until she noticed the lack of ground underneath her. The opposite side of the hill had a long drop down, not exactly to the bottom, but it was rocky and steep and she was destined to fall straight down it.

In a flurry of motion, she felt something solid hit her side as something else wrapped around her shoulders. Despite the sudden action, she wasn't so surprised to look up at the face of Ikuto as they both plunged headfirst downwards. It was in that moment that she realized something. If she had been in the same situation with anyone else, she might've been slightly terrified.

However, Ikuto and heights obviously got along well. A second arm snaked under her knees as the two flipped around in mid air. The teen's feet hit one of the rocks, incredibly balanced with Amu clutched safely in his arms. After a second's pause, he shot back up. Using one or two rocks to propell himself back up onto the hilltop, the boy had scaled the distance in a matter of seconds. It was during this time that the girl in his arms had began to giggle. By the time the two of them set foot on solid ground, she was full-on laughing, arms clutching her stomach. When Ikuto set her back on the soft grass, she instantly hit her knees and continued her guffaw.

The blue-haired teen stared at her as if she'd lost it.

She looked up to meet his stare and laughed harder as he tilted his head in confusion. He didn't quite understand. She'd nearly caused herself a good deal of injury, if not worse, put them both in danger and now she was laughing?

"I don't get it." He said flatly, shoving his hands in his pockets and regarding the small girl with a blank stare.

"I could've saved myself, y'know!" She said between laughs.

"Uh-huh, just like every other time you've gotten into trouble."

"Yeah well...maybe that's true. But even still, that was fun!"

"Fun?" Ikuto echoed, staring at the girl as if she'd been swapped for someone else.

"Yeah. We were falling and I...I didn't feel the least bit scared. I don't even know why I'm laughing, but I can't stop!"

"Ah, allow me to fix that, then." Suddenly, he'd crouched down on one knee and hooked a finger under Amu's chin, pulling her head up as he brought his face close. That laughter stopped abruptly as the girl's breath hitched in her throat, eyes gone wide at the sudden change of atmosphere. The closer the boy got, the redder her face went. When it got to the point where the skin of her cheeks matched her hair, the teen's breath played across her face, their lips mere millimeters apart.

He smelled of mint.

"Amu..." He whispered, her face going impossibly redder once again. Amu opened her mouth to say something, but her words got caught in her heart, which seemed to have jumped into her throat. She was trapped, whether she knew it or not, by the boy's hypnotic stare. The look in his eyes was paralyzing, but not with fear. It was some unfamiliar emotion that kept her rooted in place, making her stomach ache and her heart race. Dimly, she wondered if the cat-boy could hear the rapid thumping of her heartbeat, or _feel_ it. One of his hands still lightly held her chin, while the other rested just as gently on her thigh. Their proximity made her think it _was_ possible. He could probably feel it.

Amu felt frozen in place, though cold was hardly a word she could use to describe the feeling. The only thing of hers that seemed to be working properly was her heart, still beating rapidly and erratically in her chest. Her hands tightened into fists, which clenched together in her lap, reminding her she still had minimal control over her body, despite the mysterious power he held over her.

Gathering up what little remained of her willpower (Most of it had abandonned her the moment he'd said her name) Amu turned her head away just as the boy's lips closed the distance, instead meeting the heated flesh of her cheek. They stayed there for a moment, before she felt them stretch out into that infamous little smirk of his. That snapped her out of her trance completely.

"Ikuto!" She cried, pushing him away and trying to somehow restore proper bloodflow to her face.

"You stopped laughing."

Indeed she had.

"Amu-chan," Suu interrupted, pretending not to notice how red the girl's face was, even though the smile on her face gave away her knowledge, "Suu made some lunch for Amu-chan and Ikuto, and I was wondering if you'd like it now desu?"

Greatful for the change of subject, Amu nodded furiously. She stood up and jogged over to where the green chara floated.

"Yeah! Lunch sounds good!" Her stomach made a low growl of agreement, having missed out on breakfast. "But..." Her amber stare flicked back and fourth over the clear hilltop, a slight breeze brushed across the grass. This would be a brilliant place for a picnic. "Where is it?"

"Eh?" Suu turned around, as if expecting it to be there. "Suu...It was...on the counter..." She paused. "Ahh!" She smiled suddenly and turned back to face the duo. "Suu left it at home, desu!"

Her pink sister smacked herself in the forehead while Amu let out a sigh, rubbing her temples with her knuckles. Why was her would-be self so distant and forgetful? She didn't want to be that way!

"That's alright, Nya!" Another voice broke into the clearing as Ikuto let himself fall back, folding his arms behind his head as a pillow. He recognized the voice instantly, even if it took Amu a moment longer to figure it out.

An odd shape lurched through the air, dipping and swerving akwardly as it slowly progressed towards the hilltop in a straight of a line as it could manage. Sheilding her eyes from the light, Amu studied the odd scene as best she could.

It appeared as if Miki was the one doing the flying, trying her hardest to carry a plastic bag that sagged with unknown weight. Of course, there were items in the bag, she could see the akward shapes bulging through the thin material. That alone would make the small girl suffer enough when trying to fly so high. It also didn't help that a cat-like chara reclined lazily in the bag as well, rubbing at his ear with a paw and smiling with glee.

As the air-mail approached Amu, she reached out to take it in her arms. The artistic Chara gladly collapsed into her friend's hand, while Yoru poked his messy head over the side of the bag and grinned up at the pink-haired girl.

"Amu-Nya! We brought food!"

"We?" Miki breathed angrily from the girl's hand, peering over the sides of her fingers to glare down at the small feline. "We?! All you did was sit in there and sleep!"

"Who was the one that remembered the food in the first place, Nya?"

"You could've at least helped carry it!"

"I had to save my strength, nya."

"For what?"

"To make sure you didn't get lost, nya! It's tiring work." The little creature nodded at his words, ignoring how Miki shook her fist angrily at him. Of course, he was forced to care as the girl toppled over the side of the hand that held her and collapsed into the bag, landing on a startled Yoru. "Hey!" He cried, pinned between a bento box and the blue chara, who now lay across him. "Gerroff, nya!"

"No," responded Miki, "I'm sleepy."

Amu took the handles of the bag, careful not to disturb the one-sided arguement going on inside, and sat down beside Ikuto, setting it on the grass before her. She reached in and pulled out one box (and the two charas with it) and set it in front of her. The other box she place on Ikuto's stomach. He didn't react, but she assumed he'd go for it when he was hungry. He was like that.

The next thing she pulled from the bag were glass bottles of milk. Again, one her put in front of her and the other she set beside the boy. Needless to say, with her throat dry and begging for hydration, the bottle of milk was the first thing she opened, quickly draining at least half of the refreshing fluid before twisting the lid back on and turning her attention to the chara-covered bento box.

"Geroff, nya."

"No."

"Geroff, nya!"

"No."

"Geroff, nya!!"

"No, nya." Amu smiled. Miki didn't even seem to be completely awake anymore as even her responses were quiet and she'd even unconciously imitated the feline's trademark 'Nya!' Yoru had managed to sit himself up, the blue chara draped across his lap with her eyes closed and her arms folded in front of her as a pillow.

Granting the kitty some leave to move, Amu gently picked up her most artistic chara and laid her on the grass beside her sisters, who had settled down at Amu's side and were digging into a small bento box they'd retreived for themselves from the bag. Surprisingly enough, Yoru stood up, brushed himself off, then floated over to where the three other charas were gathered. Ran and Suu shared what looked like part of an Onigiri while Miki curled up on the ground, using her bag as a pillow. Yoru settled down at her side and helped himself to what the three had brought.

Seeing them eat, Amu was reminded of her own hunger. She opened the box and was pleased to find an assortment of sushi, onigiri and even some sausage lain out for her. Despite her clumisness and how she'd forgotten the food in the first place, Suu was really amazing and considerate.

Even Ran, whose encouragement and cheer had been with her all the way up the hill, could not be called anything less than a wonderful guardian. Miki too, for forcing her sleep-deprived body into action and bringing them all delicious food, refreshments and a lazy cat. Though, in hindsight, they really didn't need the lazy cat. He was just an asset for entertainment's sake.

Amu sighed in contentment as she popped a sausage into her mouth, fully taking in the scene before her. She could see most of the city from up here and the view was spectacular. Dark birds fluttered across the horizon as a bright yellow sun beat down upon them all. A few, fluffy white clouds dotted the sky, providing temporary shade from the light of the sun every now and again. It was kind of cool to watch the shadows fall over certain parts of the city and not others.

Like with one cloud, the shadow had travelled from the hill down to where she knew her school was, placed a little higher than the rest of the land because of the small incline it was on. She thought about how she should really be there right now, but the view slowly erased that from her mind. It was nice up here. She was glad she'd taken the time to go.

A shadow fell over the park, bringing back memories of Tadase and Rima, finding the king of the amazon around there and reminding her of that ice-cream fiasco. She shot a glare at Ikuto's form, who now seemed to be sleeping. Typical. It was like he could sleep anywhere.

She let out a sigh and continued to pick away at the contents of her bento box. She couldn't help feeling sentimental before such a scene. The entire city spanned before her, bathed in light and constantly teased by the shadows of the clouds. She could pick out the places where she'd met people, fought with people, done something silly and run into old friends.

She was glad to have transferred here.

* * *

"Amu." She heard someone call her name and tried to wave away the sound, though in the end the only thing to move was her hand. It twitched.

"Oi, Amu." She squeezed her eyes firmly shut and shook her head, nuzzling further into the warmth beneath her, breathing in a refreshing scent. For a while, the voice stopped calling her and she felt content to nod back off. Though the silence did not last forever.

"Amu, wake up." This time, she groaned in reply and tightened her grip on her pillow. As soon as she did, she felt something warm close around the tip of her ear, then-

"Ow!" She shot up at the nip she'd received, her body only just managing to shake off the sleep at the pain. One hand shot to her ear, blinking a few times as she took in this new situation.

Ikuto was sitting with his weight on his hands, smirking down at the pinkette as she looked from his face to their position. Her arms were wrapped around him, having been lying on his chest and using _him_ as her own personal hot-water bottle. Yet, upon realizing this, her face went several shades redder and she shot off him, nearly tumbling a few feet down the hill from the action.

"I-I-I-Ikuto! What did you do?!" She demanded, scrambling backwards on her hands and feet.

"I didn't do anything." The teen responded smoothly. "I woke and you were on top of me. Something you wanted, Amu?"

"N-no! I must've fallen asleep, I didn't mean to!" She declared, shaking her head as she crawled back over to where her bento box lay completely empty. Right. She'd finished it and decided to lie down and gaze at the clouds. She must've nodded off at some point.

Ignoring the mischeif-filled looks she was getting from Ikuto a few feet away, she searched for her Charas on the ground, suddenly noticing the lack of light. She cast her gaze upwards, noting the lovely purples that coloured the sky. Looking towards the horizon, she could see the last of the sun slipping out of sight. Had she really slept for so long?

It looked as if she wasn't the only one either. There was a bundle of colour in the grass a few paces away. Miki lay on the ground, Yoru curled up into a tiny ball at her side. Suu was on her side, using her blue sister's stomach as a pillow as she slept. Ran was above them all, arms behind her head as she snored loudly. Had Amu not still been so flush at waking up in such an akward situation, she might've considered the scene a bit more cute.

"Wow," she remarked, "we slept for quite a while, didn't we?"

Ikuto grunted his response, picking up the Bento box at his side and peering at it's contents. Right. If he'd slept that entire time, that would mean he wouldn't have eaten all day, maybe longer. So Amu didn't find it surprising that he'd already started to chow down on the mix of meat, fish and rice.

As he ate, Amu took it upon herself to polish off what remained of her milk (which had miraculously stayed somewhat cold. Maybe it'd been frozen beforehand?) and started packing everything back into the bag it had come from. When the mess from herself and the small creatures had been packed away, she turned and sat facing the city once again.

"You slept." Ikuto cut in suddenly. "I woke up about an hour ago." He nibbled contently on a riceball as Amu's face went beet red once again.

"You were awake, like that?! Why didn't you wake me up sooner?" The dark-haired boy shrugged at her words.

"You were cute, and I figured you were catching up on the sleep you'd lost the other night." His honest reply did nothing to help the shade of Amu's face. She wasn't sure what to say to that. He had robbed her of an hour or so last night, but that hadn't really bothered her. Even so, he'd lain still and let her sleep for that time. Amu nodded slowly, understanding why.

_Compensation?_

"P-pervert. Who's the one watching who sleep now?" She rubbed at the side of her face, uncomfortable at the heat it was giving off and knowing it was practically broadcasting her feelings to the boy.

"Anyways, it's getting late. I may have excused you from your classes, but your family might start to worry about you soon." Ikuto stood up as he spoke, stretching his arms above his head and resisting the urge to yawn. His lunch box was completely empty now, his hunger somewhat quelled. "I'll walk you home."

"T-thanks."

"You'd get lost otherwise."

Amu mentally retracted that thanks.

Even so, she woke up her guardian charas and found that Yoru was far more difficult to stir from his slumber. So in the end (she'd grown tired of his semi-concious whining) she carried him down the hill. Going down was far easier than the climb up, but Ikuto still walked a few paces ahead of her and she still found it somewhat hard to keep up.

"Hey, Ikuto." She called as they came to the last stretch of path. She could see the chain blocking the road up ahead. He stopped and turned to her, eyebrow raised expectantly. "Thanks for today. It was nice..."

He gave a small smile in reply as she came up beside him. He plucked Yoru from her clutches and let the small creature curl up in the darkness and warmth of his coat pocket. They continued on, walking in an oddly comfortable silence as she followed his occaisonally unorthodox routes. At some point during their trip, Amu's three guardians had snuggled into the bag she was carrying to sleep. The silence wasn't tense or uneasy, so it didn't take any of them long to nod off. Everything seemed so peaceful, after all.

It was on an unfamiliar street that the silence was broken.

"Hey, lookit that!" A low voice rumbled out from behind them, causing Amu to turn and Ikuto to stop, casting an uninterested look over his shoulder. "Issa girl, Roku, 'n sum kid."

"A girl?" Two teens stood a few paces ahead of Amu now. One seemed to be a little tipsy and gleeful, the other held a strangely wicked vibe about him. "On the streets this late? I think it's our lucky day, Takeo." Amu clenched her fists. She didn't completely understand what the two wanted, and if she did she'd prefer not to think about it. The moment she'd seen the two and the threatening aura they gave off, she couldn't help but to become a little scared.

"G-Go away!" She said as firmly as she could. She heard a shuffle from behind her as one of the boys took a step forward and grinned, opening his arms wide.

"Naw, why'd we do that, huh?" He asked, tone sickly sweet. "Come 'n play with us, girly! I like yer hair." He took another large step forward, eyes fixed on her petite figure. The small girl swallowed her feeling of nausea, only too have a different rush of feelings flutter from her stomach as warm arms curled softly around her neck. The act was not threatening, unlike the two before her were, but protective.

"She's with me." Ikuto's familiar voice rang out from behind her, and it was as if his sudden vocalization brought him into their worlds, as if until that moment he hadn't existed to them. Amu saw both their gazes drift a little ways above her to stare at him. Of course, because now he'd put himself in their way by saying something like that, he'd register as a threat to them.

"Then why don't we just take her from you, hmm?" The wicked one (Roku, was it?) didn't seem phased by the other teen's move, unlike his looser companion. The other had lost his friendly and carefree demeanor at Ikuto's words, instead taking on a hint of unease. "There's only one of you, after all, it woudn't be hard." Fearlessly, the older boy sauntered forwards, approaching the pair with a confident smirk plastered on his face. Amu didn't like that look.

But long before he got anywhere near enough to lay a hand on the pink-haired girl, Ikuto as pulled her back and stepped out in front of her, one hand clutching tightly to her arm. Amu seemed a little surprised by the urgency of the move, the firmness of his hold. Was he _afraid?_ No, that didn't seem right. Ikuto didn't seem like the kind of person to get afraid over something like this. Or maybe it was her he was afraid for?

Regardless, the wicked one stopped as soon as Ikuto had tucked the girl behind himself and out of sight. Amu chanced a peek around her comrade's arm, catching a rather dark look in his eyes. If it were her in the wicked-one's position, she'd certainly feel a little inimidated. Whether or not he actually was remained cleverly hidden. The tipsy one was just behind him now, massaging the knuckles on one hand with another. His comrade (the one with the terrible air about him) grinned widely at the series of events, as if this somehow made it more fun.

"Bad move."

* * *

**Footnotes!**

And with that, we end our carefree fluffiness and get into some actual plot. Or something.

But plot does not sacrifice fluffiness! I SHALL NEVER LET IT. Evar. SO. HI THERE EVERYONE, LONG TIME NO SEE!

Phew. This was kinda long. Like, not really that long, but still somewhat long. I usually like to keep chapters around 5-7 pages long (not to long/short) and this one ended up being nine full pages. Which means I got real into this. But then again, 'cause I was real into this there's probably a few mistakes here and there. I don't really proofread first. I write, upload, THEN PROOFREAD. It's just how I roll. So if you see anything that isn't blantly obvious, point it out. It'll probably be fixed within the next 3-4 days, maybe sooner.

So yes. We got a little into Amu's kind of 'WTF I'm not a kid (or am I?)'-esque behaviour here. I tried to reincorporate as many familiarities as I could manage, and UNLESS MINE EXPERT EYES DECEIVE ME, I think everyone's in character. Which is wonderful. It's an accomplishment. I deserve a medal.

TREAT ME AS YOUR QUEEN!

No, don't, cause that makes everything akward!

I like Suu a lot in this chapter, forwhatever reason. Somewhat proud of what she came out. Maybe I can relate to her. I'm always doing stupid stuff and whatnot. Oh well. There's also some Miru if you squint. But only if you squint real-hard and get a magnifying glass. Hope that didn't deterr you from the wonderful Amutoness here.

I'ma start on the next chapter soon, so in order to encourage me to start it sooner, click that button down there. I WANT YOUR SUPPORT, DAMNIT. DON'T LET ME FEEL ALONE D:(

You would, wouldn't you. ):

...Wow. I kinda am Bi-polar. Dx

**Toodles~**

**Shmee.**

_P.S. That little snippet at the beginning didn't really have any meaning. Unless you want it to._

_P.P.S. (08-25-09) Proofread both chapters today. I'm so proud of myself. Updated 'em too, so don't be surprised if I one day decide to be cheap and re-upload the same chapter just to bump this up a lil'. Thanks for all your support, guys, keep it coming :3_


	3. Fix

**_This time I think you'll know, you're not alone~_**

* * *

Amu was slowly beginning to wish that she'd just gone to school that day.

Of course, this meant that several hours would be spent sitting idly at a desk and awaiting the ringing of a shrill bell. That bell would mean her freedom, and she would be one of the first to embrace it. She would hang out with her friends at the garden for a while, proving to be a permanent distraction from the work they were supposed to be doing. She would likely turn down a dinner-date with a friend or two in favour of a quiet night at home and maybe a bath. Tadase would walk her half-way home, until he split to his own abode.

She'd enter her house, greet her family, then participate in all the activities expected of a girl her age. Eating, bathing, chatting with friends and family.

But most of all, she'd be safe.

Unlike then, where she felt utterly lost in the flurry of sound and motion. Her mind screamed at her to turn and run, knowing this was no place for a middle-school student. Despite her own warnings, her body remained completely frozen in place. A permanent shiver was stuck along her spine, paralyzing her with a mixture of fear and concern. But it was her heart that proved to be the rebel of her being. It insisted she stay right where she was (if not avoiding all the attention she could manage) and wait. After all, she couldn't leave Ikuto.

The boy was fighting for her sake. She may be young, but she definately understood that she had been the two boys' only target. If Ikuto had just up and left her there, he would escape unscathed and to safety. Then again, if Ikuto had just 'up and left her there,' she may not have escaped unscathed nor unscarred.

While she would've rather avoided the violence this situation had brought out, Amu was overjoyed to at least have him there with her. His presence was the very thing keeping her safe at the moment, though contrariwise his presence was also the very thing from preventing her from running. It's not as if she could do anything to help, she was a girl and she had no experience fighting battles such as these. She'd only get in the way, she knew that. The pinkette stayed simply because if she ran away, it would mean she would be abandonning Ikuto.

That, like taking on two teenaged boys in a fight, was just something she could not do.

So, she watched.

The commotion had awoken her guardian charas, who poked their heads over the side of the plastic bag in unison. They too were greeted with the blurr of motion. Ikuto was doing most of the moving, letting the wicked one swing his fists in a desperate attempt to clobber him.

Even without his ears and tail, the blue haired teen was just as agile as ever. Amu knew there would be little hope in hitting someone with all the deadly grace of an alley cat. It was happening right before her eyes. The wicked boy would swing, miss, and then be knocked back by a punch or a kick to the jaw or the gut. He would curse, wipe away whatever blood or pain the blow had brought, then try again.

Amu had almost forgotten the presence of the clumsy boy until his entire (slightly chubby) body blocked her view of the fight. She looked up to a leecherous grin and frowned.

"Amu-chan..." She heard one of her three guardians whisper in concern. Clenching her fists at her side, Amu reacted purely on instinct. Maybe it was the influence of the instinct-trusting cat fighting a few meters away, but she was glad she reacted that way.

One fist flew up suddenly, fueled by all the strength and momentum Amu could force in, and smashed solidly into the bottom of the boy's chin.

"Stay away from me!" She shouted, keeping her fists clenched and close to her chest, like she'd seen those action heroes do in movies. The tipsy boy stumbled back a few paces, rubbing the spot of a future bruise and mumbling quiet curses in her direction. He took a few moments to recover his dignity, before taking another step forward. He'd learned his lesson this time, Amu _would not _allow herself to be a complete damsel-in-distress here. "I know Karate!" A bluff, but it made the boy hesitate for a moment. She decided to make it convincing as soon as she'd spotted the unease in the older boy's expression.

She widened her stance, faced the boy squarely and kept her hands straight and stiff, holding them in front of her whilst keeping the mental referance of a Karate master in her head. She'd seen one on a show or something. She didn't know how to do all those crazy self-defense moves (although then she really was considering lessons) but she knew what they looked like. The pinkette could at least put on a good show.

Her plan blew up in her face when the boy suddenly beamed with some creepy confidence. Apparently, her pretending to know Karate just provoked him. Alright, that time it was a 'bad move' on her part.

The boy lunged forward, swiping out with a large arm in attempt to grab onto her. She heeded the warning of her charas and ducked out of the way, nearly losing her balance but succeeding in putting a few feet of distance between her and her attacker.

It was then that she chanced a gaze in Ikuto's direction, her curiosity pulling her stare. It seemed now that Ikuto was playing with the wicked-vibe boy. He wildly swung his fists, expression one of rage and annoyance as his dark-haired rival twisted, ducked and slid out of the path of each shot. Amu could feel a smile forming on her lips. Of all the people to be stuck in a situation like this with, she was glad it was him.

"Gotcha!" Pain shot up her arm as the second boy's hand closed around it all too tightly. Caught off guard by the sudden feeling of fear and pain, Amu let out a yelp.

"Amu?!" Ikuto's voice drew her gaze back to him, even though that rough grip remained firm on her arm and wrenched her down, forcing her to her knees. Her cry of pain had momentarily drawn the cat-boy's attention to her, an opportunity the young thug did not let pass by. Amu tried to cry out a warning as the 'Roku' boy came up behind him, but a large sweaty hand clamped over her mouth and her cries only came out as a muffled hum. She struggled to dislodge it.

Ikuto took the punch solidly on the back of the head, a blow that sent him stumbling forward. The first hit was his only mistake. The thug continued his onslaught on the disblanced and distracted teen, jabbing at his ribs, arms and chest until he stopped it all with a single, adrenaline-backed kick to the cat-boy's stomach.

"Ikuto!" Both Amu and Yoru cried out in alarm, the small cat-creature having been thrown out of his owner's pocket right before the fight had started. Now he zipped around the blue-haired boy as he slumped over on the ground, one arm curled over his stomach.

"Ikuto-nya! Get up!" His guardian cried. The thug let out an unimpressed grunt as if the fight had been a walk in the park for him, despite the bruises his skin would boast in the morning. He made a point to step over the stiff figure, 'accidentally' jabbing the boy with his heel. "Ikuto!" His guardian cried again, the two thugs deaf to his voice.

"Ikuto..." It was Amu's turn to speak the boy's name, though her voice was shaking and quiet, terrified for the boy's health as all attention shifted to her. The wicked boy stopped in front of her, wiping spit from the corner of his mouth.

"You better be worth it, kid." He snarled, oblivious to the pleading tears of fear and concern that glazed her golden eyes.

"Ikuto!" She called out, completely ignoring that fact that the boy was speaking to her, instead trying to get some sort of response from her friend. As long as he was okay...As long as he wasn't... "Ikuto!" She called, louder this time.

"Oi, shuddap!" The hand from before tried to stop her cries again, but this time she clamped her teeth down hard on his skin. He yelped in pain and withdrew it suddenly. She writhed violently, jerking her shoulders until an arm came free, then she yanked hard to free her second. She pushed herself to her feet, planning to run to her injured comrade before an arm hooked around her waist and pulled her back. With only her voice left as a weapon, she cried out the boy's name again.

"Hey, brat, shut up!" The wicked one wrapped his entire arm around her head, drowning her call in the crook of his elbow. She continued to kick and struggle and attempted to bite the arm around her head, to no avail. She felt a second pair of hands grip her hips and her entire being froze up with shock.

"Amu-chan!"

"Suu will get help, desu! Hang on Amu-chan!"

"Hey, dorks! Let go of her! Hey, can you hear me?! Let go, I said let go!" Ran pounded depserately on the larger boy's head, though her hits didn't register at all. Miki had diverted her goals to helping Yoru stirr Ikuto, and Suu and flown away as fast as she could manage.

The words of her small friends kicked her back into action. Again she kicked, bit and struggled, though her actions slowly became more and more controlled as the two collaborated to get a proper hold on her.

"Hey..." Both thugs froze and Amu's heart nearly exploded at the sound of the voice. "I'm not done." The larger boy seized up without warning and toppled on to one side, freeing the pinkette's legs. She didn't even take the time to pass a grateful look to her saviour. She let her instincts guide her entirely as she brought her legs up and over her head until she could trap the wicked boy's neck between her legs. She pulled as best she could, a combination of adrenaline, fear and determination provided her with the strength to launch the boy away from her as she snapped her legs down hard.

Ikuto wasted no time in catching the other teen in his grasp, spinning around and introducing his opponent's body to the concrete ground with a heavy slam.

A long silence drew out for the next few minutes, until the boy (who no longer seemed to hold such a wicked vibe) pushed himself shakily to his knees. He looked back to the odd duo, Ikuto now once again standing protectively in front of the small girl, and tentatively crawled towards them. He stopped, however, at the body of his friend.

"Get up, Takeo," his voice cracked, giving the heavier boy a good tug. "Get up, you fat lout, we're getting out of here." He helped his comrade to his feet and the two limped off as fast as they could manage, but not before the formerly-wicked boy shot a glare over his shoulder and back at the 'freak' that had ruined their potential fun for the night. He grumbled something nasty, then turned a corner and vanished from sight with his buddy.

Yet despite this departure, that silence quickly fell back over the street. The remaining guardian charas floated by, flicking their gazes form Amu to Ikuto, then back again. They respected the tense quiet too much to break it.

"I-Ikuto." Amu was lucky. The gravity of the situation was only slowly landing on her. She was always somewhat slow to realize things, and this trait protected her from some sudden mental scarring. Still, the boy before her was rigid and unmoving, his back turned to her. "I-Iku-"

The teen let out a quiet gasp and buckled forward, hitting one knee and curling his arms around his stomach. He coughed a few times, trying his very best to keep the sound as un-alarming as possible. Yoru was now crying his name in alarm, tugging at the side of his jacket.

"Amu-nya, Ikuto's bleeding!" Those three-and-a-half words were all the girl needed to stumble forward and hit her knees at said teen's side. Yoru was right, blood was gathered at the corner of Ikuto's mouth, obviously not from any external wound.

The pinkette's trusty hankercheif was out in a flash as she tried to wipe off the blood from the boy's face. He moved his head away and grunted his protest.

"Go home, Amu." He said, earning a hard stare from the girl. She furrowed her eyebrows and grabbed his arm firmly, pulling him back towards her so she could properly wipe away the blood and study his bruises.

"And leave you like this? Yeah right. Sit still, be quiet and let me fix you." She re-folded her hankercheif to a less bloody side and wiped away the dirt and grime from Ikuto's features, concern etched into her own. He'd gotten this way defending her, there was no way she was going to abandon him now.

After a while of gently cleaning his wounds, Amu let her hand fall slowly to her lap. She knew she was getting an odd look from the blue-haired boy, but for once that didn't bother her. Lowering her gaze to the ground, she drew in a large breath.

"Hey, Ikuto?" Her voice was unusually quiet and humble. Slowly, she was beginning to understand what he'd done for her.

"Hm?"

"Thank you. I really owe you one." An honestly grateful smile appeared on the girl's face as she gave his arm a light squeeze. What possesed her to do the latter, she wasn't quite sure, but she didn't regret it until the boy's expression got playfully dark.

"You _owe _me one, _Amu?_" He purred, moving steadily closer to her. "How do you intend to repay m-" The pinkette cuffed the boy upside the head, cutting him off.

"I thought I told you to be quiet." She said sternly, though Ikuto didn't miss the shade of red that coloured her face. "Now come on, I'll take you back to my place. It's not far from here."

Silence.

"I m-mean, you don't have to. I'm sure I could call the h-hospital or something, they could probably take better care of you. Not like I want to be troubled by s-some stupid cat-boy. Or b-better yet, you could just go ho-"

"Again with the stuttering."

"Shut up!" The girl flicked Ikuto's forehead with the remark, looking cross. "I'm worried about you!"

"Again?"

"Well...yeah...who wouldn't be?" She fidgeted with the hankercheif in her lap, needing something to keep her hands busy. "I don't know what would've happened if you weren't here, Ikuto."

"Well, for starters you'd probably not even be out here."

"But, either way..." Amu did her best to ignore the self-scolding tone to boy was using. "I'm glad it was you. And ignoring the whole fiasco with those kids...I had a good time today." She nodded in agreement with her own words, trying to at least better the boy's mood. Sure, the experience had been slightly traumatizing, but it was over, right? She'd gotten out safe and sound at the expense of a few bruises on her comrade. She really did owe him big time.

Yet for once, Ikuto had no witty teasings to shoot back at the girl. He simply stared, his gaze far softer than it usually was, the stinging of his bruises dulled significantly in the light of the pinkette's words.

"Should I call the police? You might need a doctor."

"No, don't draw unessicary attention." Ikuto pushed down the phone that had appeared in the girl's hands. "I'll be fine in a day or two." Stifling a pained cough, he shakily tried to steady his breathing. His throat burned and all he could taste was blood, but it seemed like somethign trivial when he considered the day's events as a whole.

"S-so, d-do you want to come back to my place? You c-can lie low there until you're better."

The playful smirk had returned.

"H-hey! Stop looking at me like that! It was just an offer! Alright! I take it back, you can stay out here and freeze for all I care!"

* * *

In the end, Ikuto had (not unwillingly) accepted the idea of bunking at her house until he felt well enough to expose himself to his family again. Amu had helped him to his feet and served as a support the rest of the way home, though the trip was made in mostly silence. Something seemed amiss, and not simply with just one of them.

Either of them could break it, the silence, that is. It wouldn't take much, a joke or a scold from one or the other. It wasn't as if that quiet situation was anything like the one earlier in the day. This one _was_ tense, a little akward and put off. It was something neither of them enjoyed, yet no one went to break it. Even the collection of Yoru, Miki and Ran chose to float several paces behind the two as they walked, trading hushed whispers.

"Do you think Ikuto will be alright?" Ran mused aloud, turning to her sister with curiosity.

"Of course he will, Ikuto is tough-nya!"

"What about Amu-chan?" Miki brought to light what the other two had been a little to timid to address. Sure, she looked alright: she hadn't gotten physically hurt or anything, she had no bruises. But it was a well known fact that mental bruises didn't show up like others. "Will _she _be alright?"

"Of course she will!" Ran tactfully chose to imitate the feline's words. "Amu-chan is tough!" Ever optimistic, she stuck her arm out and her thumb in the air, grinning wildly. Despite this, Miki still seemed doubtful. It was in her character to be logical and cool-headed, so she was naturally reviewing the events while looking at the more subliminal damage. Yes, Amu was tough, but she was still just a girl in middle-school with so many curisoities about her true self that her ego could be easily deflated with the right words or events.

"But I still can't help being concerned. Ikuto's wounds will heal in a day or two, but what about Amu's?"

"Amu has bruises?" Ran peered forward, as if trying to catch a glimpse of one.

"Not those kind of bruises, nya." Yoru was no stranger to this situation. When one follows Ikuto around for the amount of time he had, one begins to understand that some things damage more than just your body.

"Amu's never dealt with something like this before, she's just as new to it as we are. She might not know how to handle it."

"But she'll get over it, right?"

"'Over it', Ran? It's not something that someone can just so easily be 'over it.'" The artistic chara was having a hard time explaining something like this to someone who was always so honest and open. If it were Ran, she'd open up about whatever troubles or feelings were bothering her. But of course, Ran was only a part of Amu and some things the girl needed to cope with by herself.

"She'll talk to us if she needs to, right Miki?" The pink chara seemed to be slowly understanding at least a small portion of what her younger sister was telling her.

"If she needs to, I'm sure she will. But I don't think we're the ones she needs to talk to."

"Ikuto-nya," Yoru whined, noting how his beloved comrade stiffened. While the girl may have been oblivious to it, the small feline knew when Ikuto was hiding pain. Yet neither Ikuto or Amu spoke, keeping the odd silence alive between them.

In the end, perhaps had either of them decided to break that silence, everything would've been made clear and good between the two. Amu chose the silence in favour of quietly suffering, not wanting to further worry the owner of the arm around her shoulders. She was slow, but that didn't mean she didn't feel. That trauma was slowly catching up to her. What had nearly happened, what she'd almost lost and how she could do nothing to stop it. It was enough to make her want to cry.

But she didn't, for his sake.

Ikuto chose the silence over apologizing. He'd taken her out, made her break rules for him and in return, he'd nearly let something terrible happen. Had anything gone differently, he couldn't help but to wonder, who would really be at fault? Amu? Those perverted punks? No, the first person he'd blame is himself, without a doubt. It wasn't irrational, either, he was convinced. He'd brought her there, he'd failed to fully protect her. It was enough to make him want to leave.

But he didn't, for her sake.

Instead, he obediently clambered as best he could up to her balcony while she entered the more humane route (also known as the front door). Amu had to explain why she was late, for as far as her family was concerned she'd been at school the whole day and school had ended hours ago. She was not about to explain why Ikuto was going to be staying. In fact, she failed to mention him at all, leaving that minor detail out of her explanation, which was simply the classic 'I was hanging out with friends and I lost track of time.'

Her fault wasn't hard to forgive, seeing as the reason had been so innocent. If she'd told the truth, the result might've been far different.

She ate dinner with her family, as per usual, while her hidden guest collapsed gratefully on her bed. Amu was quick to scarf down her food to tend to the injured boy in her room, saying she had a lot of homework to do and didn't want to be disturbed.

When she entered her own room, she was surprised at the heaviness of the air. As expected, Ikuto was passed out on her bed, Yoru faithfully at his side. The teen's face was twisted into a pained expression, his arms curled around his stomach even in his sleep. She let out a sigh and wandered in his direction, sitting down on the edge of her bed a letting out a long sigh. Ran and Miki were nowhere in sight, and Amu made the automatic guess that they'd gone to look for thier sister. So she was somewhat surprised when she felt a light tug on her sleeve.

"Amu-nya," whined Yoru, frowning as he met her trouble gaze, "are you alright, nya?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." The girl smiled as if to prove it, and found herself rubbing the small creature's head in appreciation for his concern. Yoru gave her a disbeleiving look, the doubt evidently flashing in his eyes before he shut them, turned up his nose and folded his arms across his chest.

"Good, then go get us some food, nya, I'm starving!"

"I will, you silly cat, just wait until my parents have gone to bed, then I'll fix you up something good." She smiled again and moved to get up off the bed, surprised to find a tug on the back of her jacket. "Yoru, I-" She stopped mid-word, smile dying as she realized it wasn't Yoru who'd grabbed onto the back of her uniform. Ikuto still appeared to be asleep, though his hand held firm to her jacket.

Doing her best not to disturb him, the pinkette slipped out of her jacket, looking back to see him curl up (not surprisingly, much like a cat) around the fabric and take a large breath in. Amu propped her hands on her hips and shook her head, grabbing her pajama's off the end of the bed and deciding it was well past time to change into more comfortable clothes. With one last glance at Ikuto, the girl decided it was unlikely he'd wake up without food.

She regretted thinking that as her skirt hit the ground.

"Pink underwear? Why am I not surprised?" A shiver travelled up and down her spine as her eyes opened wide. Her body went form ice-cold to burning hot, focusing around her cheeks. Slowly, she turned, feeling anger and embarassment mix in her voice.

"I-ku-to," she hissed, "y-you s-stupid perver-"

"Amu-chan!" A small, cheerful voice sounded from down the hall, followed by loud footsteps from a childish run. Before she could react, a warm hand closed around her wrist, the lights flicked off and she was swallowed in blankets and warmth.

"Shh." Ikuto's voice was in her ear yet again – and no wonder, she was buried under the covers with him, his arms keeping her pressed against him. The door clicked open.

"Amu-Cha...aannn." The middle schooler's sister had barged in loudly, but instantly registered the lump in the bed and the lack of light to mean that her sister had gone to bed, lowering her voice almost as soon as she understood this. She made a shush noise to herself, before toddling into the dark room. "Amu-chan left her skirt on the floor." The girl remarked, picking it up and depositing it in her sister's hamper. She tutted, complimenting herself on being such a good little sister, whispered a goodnight to the lump in the bed and blew it a kiss. She attempted to quietly exit the room, but the loud 'click' of the door shutting was hardly inconspicuous. Even so, the small girl giggled to herself and skipped off to her own bedroom for some shut-eye of her own.

Had she progressed any further into her sister's room, however, she probably would've noticed how much larger the lump on her bed seemed to be, or how her sister's pajamas were lain out over the girl's chair, or even the startled feline 'Shugoi Chara' peering over that particular chair.

All of these had thankfully gone unnoticed, which meant Amu was free to let her anger loose on the boy still holding onto her tightly.

"Ikuto..." She growled, placing her hands against his chest and pushing lightly away. Amu was a little surprised to find he wasn't letting her go so easily. "Let go..." She still had to beat him for catching her undressing, the stupid pervert. If he'd just stayed asleep, she wouldn't be half-naked lying...under...the...

"Just stay here, _Amu_" The teen said.

"Ikuto. I have no pants on." The girl did a stellar job of holding her temper.

"That's fine by me."

"Ikuto!" There was a bit of a struggle as she tried to get away, though the teen playfully held on. It wasn't long before her struggles became more violent, more afraid. "L-let go!" She hissed, her voice was alarmed, strained as if in fear. She had shut her eyes tightly and continued twisting away from him when a barely-audiable whimper escaped from her throat. Ikuto released her in that instant and she scrambled quickly out of bed as if it were on fire. She grabbed her pajamas off the chair and hugged them tightly, sitting in the middle of her floor as her heart pounded with a truely unwelcome feeling.

"...Amu?"

No response.

Ikuto pushed of the covers and sat up, taking a step towards the girl and ignoring how his muscles screamed at him to just lie down and rest. As he moved, however, she stood up and all but bolted to the door.

"I'm going to go get changed, I'll bring you back some food."

And she was gone.

* * *

**FOOTNOTES, DAMNIT.**

Oh my. Amu's lacking in pants again. Wait, no, not again. PANTSLESS AMU, HAIL!

Uah. I think this brings us to our second-to-last chapter. I might try to wrap this up in the next chapter, but I make no guarantees. It'll definately be resolved in like, one or two-ish chapters fo sho. I want to keep it to four chapters, 'cause that was my goal, but you never know, muse is a fickle thing.

In other news, I wish to share something scarring with you. I was watching some shows about platypusses (Lawl) before I started writing this, which took me well into the wee hours of the morning. I finished somewhere around four and almost immediately fell asleep. I ended up having this odd dream whereas Ikuto was riding a platypus through the bogs of Narnia. I'm fairly certain the Narnia part of my dream came from icelight11's 'When the snow brought you back' (Go read, it's wonderful.)

So yes, I woke up laughing. No wonder.

RIGHT, SO SEE YOU GUYS IN A FEW DAYS OR SO.

**Toodles~**

**Shmee**

_P.S. The word platypus makes me laugh._

_P.P.S. Please review. I do love the support, makes me feel loved._

_P.P.P.S. LOVE MEEEE_


	4. You

**_I memorized all the words for you, but if you only knew how much that's just not like me~_**

* * *

It was akward sitting alone in the silence of someone else's room.

Especially seeing as the owner of that room had just left in a rather large hurry, the immistakeable scent of fear following after her. Ikuto pulled his legs up onto her bed and sat cross-legged, propping his elbow on a knee and staring after her with his chin in his palm. He'd frightened her. He had a knack for reading that girl, so this scent and situation threw him off. Coming from her, it was something knew. Rarely was Amu afraid of anything.

Uncertain? Definately

Hesitant? Of course

Afraid? Not so much.

Ikuto was no dumb cat, either. He had a fairly decent guess as to what could've put her in such a state. After all, she'd faced countless dangers any normal 14-year-old would shy away from. Amu had gone up against an entire corporation, leapt into the air off of various heights and gone up against various curious characters all with ill intentions. Hell, she'd willingly stood _in his way_ while he'd been weilding a giant scythe. The girl _had_ to have guts to do that.

But underneath all the bravery and gutso, she still was just a 14-year-old girl.

Most girls in her position might've gone into shock at the time, or at least become a blubbering mess of tears. Instead of that, she'd run to him first thing with little regards to the situation when he still had injuries to be tended to. Despite that attitude, she had to consider the gravity of the situation eventually.

It just didn't help his guilt at all that he'd been the one to spark those thoughts.

He cast a thoughtful gaze to the balcony window, considering that ever-present option of leaving. It wouldn't be hard to do. He'd just have to stand up, take about six steps and he'd be out. He wouldn't have to deal with the kid's trauma (that he'd helped bring on,) he wouldn't have to deal with her fear (that he'd helped bring on,) and he certainly wouldn't have to deal with that guilt sitting in the pit of his stomach like a boulder (that he'd brought on entirely.)

His muscles tensed as if he were about to rise, his gaze shifting to the floor where his feet would go as he propped his hands on his knees to push himself off.

But he didn't budge.

Ikuto let out a long sigh and let himself fall back, his hands moving behind his head to coushin the fall. He could try to tell himself to abandon the girl, to distance himself from her with yet another reason for her to hate him, but in the end he knew he couldn't. Not like this, at least. He knew what would happen. She'd tell him she hated him. Those words she would scream at him as he left, those three little words that brought such pain with them. Normally he could put up with them. Just not from her.

From her, they hurt.

"Ikuto?" Amu's voice was quiet as she pushed her way inside her room, her tone implying that she didn't expect to see the boy there, sprawled back on her bed. She shut the door behind her and moved over to the small table by her bed, setting down the plate of rice, fish and sauce in order to free her hands so she could turn on the lamp. If he'd fallen asleep, she'd throttle him for making her go through the trouble of making him food. "Hey, Ikuto."

"Nya!" Yoru responded in his place, rocketing over to the plate of food and the fish sitting delicately on the top. He wasted no time in snatching the tasty-smelling thing and diving into the rice, a 'poof' of white spraying out as he landed. At least the pinkette's impromptu leftover meal would satisfy _someone_. The small cat had attempted to shove the entire tuna fish into his mouth, only to have to akwardly chew as he came to the understanding that it just would not fit.

He was suddenly pulled from the dish by his ear, flung to one side of the room (though that fish remaind clutched firmly in his paws) as Ikuto lifted the plate with his free hand. He'd sat up when Amu had been inwardly scolding the chara's dinner manners.

"Thanks." He said, not too bothered that his guardian had made off with the tastiest part of the dish. Food was food, and he was hungry. The only thing he'd had to tide him over for the day was a small bento-box, and shortly after he'd burned all the energy he could've gotten from it.

Amu muttered a quiet response before getting up and walking over to her vanity, taking a seat in order to pull a brush through her tangled locks.

That silence only got heavier.

It had gotten to the point where Yoru had taken what remained of his fish and followed the other guardian's lead, retreating into his egg. This was a situation where unecessary presences would just make things more akward. Besides, so long as he had his tasty friend by his side he would manage being left out of the loop.

It was a while after Ikuto had polished off what remained of the rice that a sharp pain in his stomach broke the tension. He doubled forward, swallowing the urge to cough and knowing it would probably result in him bleeding again.

"Ikuto?" Amu was at his side in concern again, all too close as he tried to fight away the pain he was trying _not_ to worry her with. "Ikuto, are you alright?"

"Not really."

"Should I call the paramedics?"

"No, it'll pass in a minute." One of the longest minutes he'd ever lived through, he might add. But Amu never left his side, though her hand itched to touch the teen's back in hopes to ease the pain.

"Are you sure?"

His silence was the best answer he could give, so instead she changed her dialogue.

"I think maybe you should get some rest now."

"Alright," Amu was suddenly pulled down onto her bed, trapped beneath the boy's arm as he lay beside her. His eyes were open and his gaze tense, watching to see her reaction. "You keep me warm, then." He mumbled. "'Cause your room is always so cold at night." So much for that pain.

The pinkette was stunned into silence. The behaviour wasn't unusual at all, in fact she'd kind of expected it the moment she mentioned anything that had to do with bed. It was her reaction that she found unusual. Her heart went ice-cold for several seconds, before kicking into a painfully rapid pace.

"Ikuto..." She squeaked. "Let me go."

"No." Aware he was playing with fire, he tightened his grip and drew her closer. His eyes never wandered from her face, carefully studying her every move.

"Ikuto, let me go." Amu's voice was louder this time (keeping in mind her house was filled with sleeping family), but the answer didn't change.

"I don't want to."

"Ikuto!" She began to struggle, which was not entirely unexpected, but this time he didn't let her go. Her squirming hadn't got to _that_ point yet. When she stopped, her breathing was rapid and her face was flushed. She squeezed her eyes shut.

"_Amu_," the teen hissed into her ear, making her squeak in alarm (and was that another whimper?) "Why are you scared?"

For a moment, Amu's heart froze again. Scared? Was that what this was? She knew the feeling of being 'scared' quite well, considering her incredibly low tolerance for frightening things, but this was a strange kind of fear, if that's what it could be called. His touch was like ice compared to how it burned her skin before, seeming so rough and demanding, though that was far from what it was.

"I-I'm not."

The stutter gave her away. She really was a terrible liar.

"Is that so?"

Amu's voice abandonned her, so she settled for giving a small nod in response. Ikuto's grip tightened further, to the point where she started to struggle once more, this time her actions were fueled by that urgency again. The fear from before was back, he could see it clearly. In fact, to his heightened senses he could practically smell it.

But instead of releasing her as he had last time, he shifted his grip to her wrists and rolled on top of her, pinning her arms beside her head and straddling her waist. Alarmed by the sudden position change, the pinkette let out a quiet yelp. Her breathing had picked up again as she squirmed in a futile attempt to get free.

"Amu."

She winced, squeezed her eyes shut and tried to lift her arms. Ikuto called her name again, only to get a very similiar response, but this time she squeaked with the effort of trying to throw him off. He was clearly not going let himself be budged so easily, as the result of letting her go the first time had been particularily painful to watch.

"_Amu._" It was his turn to raise his voice slightly, so that she froze in place and lifted her wide-eyed stare to meet his. She was lost in his eyes within a heartbeat and no longer was she able to tear away. It was in that single beat that she was calm, mezmorized by that all-too-intense stare.

"I-Ik-"

"Do you trust me?" At that point the boy wasn't really sure why he was asking that question. It had brushed the corners of his mind and then suddenly he'd said it aloud. He hadn't exactly wanted to, just as he never wanted to have that question send the girl into a hesitant silence. That silence stretched out for far too long for his liking and he got the message.

She wasn't sure if she trusted him or not.

Ignoring the strange pain from that understanding, Ikuto decided that he would not take it as a surprise.

"Alright." Ikuto broke his stare and rolled off her, landing on the floor silently and standing to his full height. He stuffed his hands in his pockets as he regarded the girl with a thoughtful expression, hesitating a moment or two. Her expression of alarm was directed at him, as if she didn't understand the kind of damage that her silence had done to the conversation (if that's what it could be called.) She was so confused. Why was he acting so strangely?

Her confusion just told him that even she didn't even understand her own fear.

So, he pivoted on the spot and walked towards her window, one hand withdrawing from his pocket in order to let his fingers curl around the door's handle. He didn't get much further, for Amu had caught on to what he planned to do and sat up.

"Wait!" She called lightly, causing him to pause, but not to turn. She pushed back the covers and swung her legs over the side of her bed in a rush, jumping to her feet as quickly as she could. "D-don't..." Her voice was being troublesome. It wouldn't properly form the words she wanted to speak.

"Hmm?" Ikuto cast his gaze over his shoulder, noting her pleading stare before turning to face her completely.

"D-don't go...Not yet..."

His eyes narrowed a fraction.

"Please." This time she managed to keep her voice steady. Perhaps she was under the impression that if she stammered again, he'd think she was lying to him. It did seem to be a reoccuring thing with her. "Don't leave. Not now."

"Oh? Whyever not?" His voice was low, lined with a hint of mockery as he stalked towards the girl. She was reminded very much of that night on her balcony, where he'd tricked her and as a result discovered a weakness in her ears. She _almost_ instinctively went to cover them as he approached this time, unsure if she wanted an encore of that display or not.

"I-I don't..." She'd started stammering again, but it's not as if she could help it. He was standing right in front of her, leaning down to her height and bringing his face close. By now, she thought, she should've been used their proximity and the smug expression on his face. It was clear he'd changed his battle tactics.

Amu fought to keep her voice steady, though it seemed that whenever he was in range that was nearly impossible to do. Damn cat.

"I d-dont want to be alone..." Her voice was hard for even the cat-boy's heightened senses to register. It was so uncharacteristically quiet. "...Right now...I don't want to be alone."

Ikuto's teasing smirk may have eased into a smile at those words, but Amu didn't want to meet his gaze to find out, she was only guessing as to what the corners of her eyes could see. His hand came up and rested on her head, surprising her in the moment he'd made a move, and ruffled her hair.

"You're such a ki-"

He stopped himself a moment to late.

"A kid?" Echoed Amu, this time lifting her golden stare to him. He was surprised to find it filled with anger and annoyance, instead of the fear and confusion that had been swimming in the colours for quite some time. "A kid?!" She repeated louder, and she threw his hand off her head. He almost gave into the urge to shush her. "Ikuto, is that all you think of me?"

"_Amu_, I-"

"No, don't '_Amu' _me." Ikuto wasn't sure whether to laugh or be surprised at Amu's sudden change of character. Before she'd gotten quite self concious when he'd called her a kid, but now she seemed angry. "You know what, _Ikuto?_" It was hard to miss how she'd immitated his tone of voice when she'd said is name. "You're right, we've been over this. I _am_ just a kid. But you are too, stupid cat!"

She give him a minute to register the insult, acknowledge it and then brush it off before she continued.

"I'm a kid. When I get hurt, I want to cry. When I have fun, I laugh and smile. I get flustered when stupid cosplaying cat-perverts tease me! After all, _I am a kid._" Her voice was strong as she repeated herself, strong enough to deter the blue-haired teen from correcting the nickname she'd messed up.

"And tonight I almost...wasn't...." Her voice trailed on a brought on a heavy silence. Ikuto could then be sure that she did understand the situation she had been in, if it was not a little delayed. At that point, he humbled himself quite a bit. He let that smile die from his face, he stood up straight and stopped hiding the concern trying to show in his eyes. "I almost wasn't..." Her repetition trailed off as if she wanted to finish her thought, but found herself inable to.

"Amu,"

"So forgive me if I'm wrong," she said over him, "but as a kid, I don't want to be left alone...not now, not knowing that." Her head lowered, fists clenched tightly at her sides with an anger and frustration she was keeping bottled up. To his dismay, her hair fell over her face to hide those brilliant eyes. "So don't leave, you stupid cat. I don't want you to go...I may not completely understand what I should be thinking right now, and I think it's wrong to say I completely understand what I _am_ thinking right now. But I know for sure that I don't want you to leave me here alone."

On a hunch, Ikuto let the silence stretch out for a little longer. Sure enough, she spoke again.

"And I know...I know I trust you...even if I'm a little weary right now..." Amu paused. "After all, you didn't let me fall before, no one was cross that I was missing today...and you saved me...not for the first time, either." Another pause, this time leading Amu to smile a little. "I'd be stupid not to trust you, I'm just..."

"Scared?" It was the first word that he'd spoken in a while, and it certainly nailed how she felt about the situation. Even if she'd been confused about what the feeling was (it certainly wasn't the same kind of fear she was used to,) he knew exactly how to put it into one little word. Had he not done so, she might've danced around it a little while longer, trying to explain and unable to come to the conclusion herself.

"Yeah," she nodded, "I'm scared." Her head suddenly shot up, obviously without a clue that Ikuto had drawn so close, as her skull nearly hit his chin quite hard. His reflexes had saved him some pain (physical pain, if nothing else. He couldn't exactly dub this situation as painless.) "Is that too child-like for you?!" She demanded, lifting her hand to point dramatically up at him.

Ikuto smiled.

Slowly, his fingers closed around her wrist and he guided that hand aside. He took a step into her, amusing himself in how she stumbled back, trying half-heartedly to get away.

"You don't want me to go?" He repeated as she continued to stumble backwards, his grip on her wrist remaining firm as he matched each of her steps with one of his own.

"N-no." Her face went red, obviously she'd understood that she was stepping out of her normal behaviour. Normally, she'd insist he leave. Her behind met the desk and her wrist was guided down, his other arm trapping her between him and the small wooden table. His head came down, his lips meeting the side of her neck and sending the poor girl's heart into a frenzy. He took a long breath in, as if in thought, while keeping her trapped in that position.

Amu felt him smirk against her skin and came to the conclusion that he _could_ feel her heartbeat.

"Say it like you mean it, and I won't."

He felt like reincorporating things. It made everything more fun, especially when the girl realized he'd tweaked what he had said just the other night and she blushed even more. She stiffened and struggled, obviously not trying particularily hard as he barely moved in her efforts. That's when the metaphorical brick hit her.

Her heart was racing again.

But not with fear.

"No. I don't want you to leave." She repeated, managing to chase that troublesome stutter out of her voice. "...Stay....at least for tonight."

"Hmm." Guided by instinct, his lips traced their way up her neck, enjoying the way she shivered, (if her face got any redder, he feared she may pass out.) "You know what that usually implies, right, _Amu?_"

"S-Stop it! Nothing perverted!" She was quick to set that boundary as she felt a nip on her ear, she brought her only free hand up to give him a light push, shutting one eye as she tried to lean away from his invasive kisses. Ikuto let out a low chuckle and stood straight, freeing her (somewhat) from the akward sandwhich she'd been forced into. However, his fingers still clamped tightly to her wrist, so she didn't get very far.

"But that's just not as fun, Amu."

"O-oh well! Y-you'll just have to live with it!"

"When you say it like that, I don't want to." That sounded familiar, but she had barely any time to consider where it had come from. She felt a rough tug on her wrist and was pulled down, once again wrapped tightly in the boy's embrace on the bed.

"Y-You're such a pervert."

"You wouldn't have it otherwise."

Amu felt herself smile, the way he was approaching this conversation was amusing. It was now sort of a game to see if she could remember who said what and when. Yet as she expected him to say more, she was blanketed in a warm silence. She craned her neck upwards, only to notice the feline-like teen was out for the count. Blowing the hair out of her eyes, (he was still clinging to her, keeping her arms pinned to her body) Amu allowed herself to take comfort in the boy's warm embrace, just this once.

* * *

"Ikuto?" The first thing Amu noticed when she awoke was how cold it was. She was alone again, a lump of ice settling in her stomach. She felt the blankets beside her, dismayed to find that they too were cold. Rubbing at an eye, Amu pushed herself upright, casting her half-lidded gaze around the room in hopes to catch him somewhere.

No, he wasn't anywhere in sight.

She swung her legs over the side of her bed and stood slowly, wandering over to the window which he'd probably exited from. Well, she couldn't say him leaving was unexpected. He did take after a cat in so many ways, so naturally he came and went as he pleased. But why did he leave then? Why now? Didn't she...didn't she say...

Well, if that's how it was, then she decided she didn't need him.

"Are you sure this was it?"

"Positive." A pause. "Without a doubt."

There were voices outside her door, and in her drowsy state of mind she couldn't help to let his name slip from her lips, sounding hopeful.

"Ikuto?"

"Shh." The voices on the other side of her door went silent, leaving her to stare expectantly for a few moments. She called the boy's name again and moved to open the door, feeling a little odd at the feeling in her stomach and the frigid temperatures of her room. Why had she never noticed how cold it was in here?

She turned the knob and slowly opened the door, rubbing at an eye as she prepared to reprimand the boy for making such a racket outside her room at whatever hour of the morning he'd decided to disrupt her sleep this time. Yet, something dawned on her as she slowly opened her door.

No one else knew Ikuto was here, and the second voice was far too low to have belonged to one of her guardians or Yoru.

A hand covered her mouth, drowning out her voice which was about to be projected as a scream. She felt someone slip behind her and curl an arm around her neck, dragging her back into the room as the door clicked shut in her wake. She began to kick wildly and claw at the arm around her head, trying to get free, bear her teeth and bite, rip away the offender's hold: anything she could do she did, only to find her captor possessed a strength greater than her own.

"Shut up, brat." Something hissed in her ear, making her squirm and fight more.

Amu.

Suddenly she was on her back, the coushining of her mattress beneath her anything but comforting. A heavy weight settled on her legs and she tried to scream for her freedom, finding something still covered her mouth. It was so dark...she could only see shapes, unable to focus as pain introduced a firm hold to her hips.

_Amu._

"You're gonna be worth it."

Tears stung in her eyes. And she bit helplessly at the flesh over her mouth, finding once more that no matter how hard she bit it would not withdraw. She tried to call out, call someone to her aid.

Mama, Papa!

Those burning hands were relentless, ripping and tearing at her arms and legs.

Ran, Miki, Suu!

_Amu!_

She felt suddenly so cold, eyes hovering above her and shining with a wicked blend of triumph and hatred she didn't think was humanely possible.

Ikuto!

"_Amu!"_

She sat upright, the weight on her vanishing with a flash as if it was torn away. Her chest heaved as she remembered to breathe, drenched in a chilling sweat. Eyes wide, she found herself quickly blinded with a smothering darkness, then...

_Warmth?_

"Amu, relax." A familiar voice breathed into her ear, sounding just as alarmed as she felt. "You're alright."

"I-Iku-" Her voice failed her, cracking in her throat and dying out to a whisper as she shook. Slowly, she became aware of warm arms, curling around her body and head; a warm chest from which she could hear a rapidly beating heart; and a still silence that swallowed her whole.

"Amu." The voice said again, more low and soothing then she'd ever heard it before. "Relax," it told her. "You were dreaming."

Amu squeezed her eyes shut. A dream?

She felt tears stinging in the corner of her eyes.

No.

She wouldn't cry.

"Amu, are you crying?"

No. She wasn't. Look away, it'll pass.

"Amu?"

Look away. She doesn't want to cry in front of you.

She felt herself shift, a gentle force guiding her back down. A weighty warmth blanketed her once again and she opened her eyes to catch a glimpse of blue hair in the darkness. He was on top of her again, his arms still enwrapped her as if she'd vanish otherwise.

"I-Ikuto..." She breathed, unsure whether she should feel touched or weary. This was so very much like her dream, the pressing weight, that possesive hold...but then again, she had some feeling in her heart telling her to be at ease.

This was different, it assured her.

"Ikuto, I can't breathe," she lied. Her lie worked, for he soon removed himself from her, though his hands still held himself over her, positioned on either side of her head. Something twisted in her gut and she forced herself to look away from him.

She then noticed that a weak light was beginning to flood into her room, the sky a light indigo as the sun no doubt approached the horizon. Her family would be awake soon.

"Are you alright?" His voice broke her thoughts and she forced a nod, a little dissapointed to glance back towards him and witness that disbeleiving expression of his. She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. She wouldn't let his eyes bait her into opening up to him again. Sure, she'd admitted to him that she knew she was a just kid, but that didn't mean she always wanted to act like one. She wanted to prove she could be tough.

"Ikuto, you should go..." She said, instead of telling him what was on her mind (though that's clearly what he expected,) and gave him a light shove.

He didn't budge.

"Ikuto, I mean it."

Again, nothing.

"Iku-"

"Shut up."

Her mouth snapped closed. Instead she resorted to squirming, planting her arms against his chest and trying to push away from him. He would not falter.

"Be still." Again, she unconciously obeyed his commands. So there she lay, staring (angrily) up in expectance. She couldn't talk, she couldn't move, so what was she to do?

"And let me fix you."

Wait, that's not how it w-

Ikuto swooped down without warning, planted his lips on hers barely seconds after he'd stopped speaking.

Her mind spun.

Her body froze.

Her heart stopped.

It was gentle, something she wouldn't exactly expect from his alley-cat nature. There was that mint smell about him again, was it his hair? No, no. That was wrong. Then what was it? His lips? They were soft, warm and seemed to be the culprit behind that similar warmth blossoming in her stomach. Hang on, why hadn't she pushed him back yet? Was it his hands? Were they pinning her again? Wait, that was wrong too. She could feel one resting on her waist, the other just barely tipped her chin upwards. So what was it?

...What had started all this again?

Whoa. Hang on. She'd just dawned on a far more important question. (A miracle, seeing as her head swam with so many.)

What in the world was _Ikuto_ doing _stealing _her _first kiss?_

Her voice kicked into action against his mouth and she suddenly slammed her palms upwards, shoving him back with a force she wasn't aware she possessed.

"I-I-Ikuto!" Her voice shook with rage as he sat up and grinned. Rolling off her before she could place a rather rough hit to a rather senitive spot, the cat-like teen swiftly moved away from the bed. She was on her feet in a flash, red-faced and armed with a pillow. (He was shaking like a leaf at this, no doubt.)

He darted out of the way of her hardly intimidating blows, ignoring her shrieks of rage and simply chuckling at the occaisonal words he could decipher from her yells. Words like stupid, cat, cosplay, pervert, theif.

You know, the usual.

He quickly leapt towards her window, avoiding a blow to the head that just might've thrown him off balance. He unlocked it with a click, threw it open and jumped outside just before he was caught in the young girl's grasp. In a flash, the teen was balanced on the balcony ledge, facing her with a chesire grin, hands tucked safely into his pockets. At some point during their game of 'tag', his ears and tail had made an appearance, and now twitched with obvious amusement.

Amu stopped the chase at her door, grabbing the handle.

"You s-stupid...p-pervet cat..._theif!" _Her door slammed shut just in time to accent her last word. He simply smiled, tail lazily waving from side to side as he waited. She obviously expected him to leave, judging by that pressing expression on her cherry-coloured face.

Yet still, he waited.

"Amu-nya."

And she knew why.

She slid open the door (just a fraction, she couldn't risk that blasted cat slipping back in, after all,) pointed towards the opening and turned towards the small floating feline.

"Out!" She commanded, ignoring the concerned and curious cries of her guardians, who had all awoken from the ruckus.

Yoru need only to glance from the grinning Ikuto to the flustered Amu to understand that something big had happened. He'd peice the details together later, when he wasn't following his owner in exile from the young girl's room.

He managed to pull back his tail just before it got slammed in the door as it was forced closed. He heard the lock click seconds after and turned in time to see Amu stick her tongue out defiantly at his blue-haired owner before pulling the drapes closed.

The drapes and the door didn't drown out her continuous shouts of frustration and some rambles about personal space, nor did it smother the sounds of her family rushing in alarmed, demanding an explanation. Ikuto simply sat, smiling devillishly as his tail swayed in a steady rythmn from side to side. After a few moments of listening to the girl's attempts to make up some excuse for all the racket so early in the morning, he turned around and leapt off the edge, landing as smoothly as ever on the next rooftop.

"Ikuto-nya," Yoru spoke now, floating at his side as they bounded from rooftop to rooftop, leaving the darkness behind them as they headed towards the steadily growing light of the sunrise. Maybe they could watch it from some place high up?

"Hmm?"

"Did something good happen again, nya? You're smiling really big."

There was a pause, a moment of silence stretched between the two, before Ikuto found the will to speak. Yoru was happy to see he looked geniuinely pleased with himself for the first time in weeks.

"You could say that."

* * *

**Futnohts.**

Goodness gracious, is it really the end?

Yes, yes. I'm afraid it is. Turns out I could resolve this in one chapter, because I'm skilled like that.

So. We've made it through like, four chapters of fluff, trauma and pervertedness. HOW DO WE FEEL? Wonderful, I should hope. It took me well into the night to finish this. I kept getting distracted by The Lion King and it's sequel. The songs off that are all just faaaabulous. :D BUT EVEN WITH ALL THE DISTRACTIONS SINGING KITTIES COULD PROVIDE, I finished! And I really considered ending on a different note, without him theiving her 'first'. But I thought about it and I really couldn't see me fitting in the dialogue and still making everything just...come together. So you have the lovechild of my stubborness and my muse. I do hope everyone reacted the proper way. I thought so, but then again, I COULD BE WRONG.

ALRIGHT. SO IT'S DONE. YOU CAN ALL GO HOME NOW.

Except for you. Yes you. You have to stay, 'cause I'm not done yet.

I must say, writing this came relatively easy to me, and it was actually rather short compared to my usual projects, so I got to thinking. MAYBE I SHOULD HANG AROUND, Y'KNOW, CRAFT S'MORE WONDERFUL WORKS OF FICTION FOR THIS HERE COMMUNITY. But then again, I'm full of empty promises, so THAT'S WHERE YOU COME IN. I want a beta reader, damnit. I have an idea for a longer story full of wonderful Amuto-ness. (And a oneshot for a rather unusual couple, but that'll come soonish). Point is, I'd like to ask one of my wonderful readers to step forward and TAKE THE BLOODY TORCH. It would have to be someone I could contact easily, preferably with msn because I am absolutely horrid at keeping up with my emails. You'd have to be able to give decent crit, (even if it's just proof-reading) and be able to whip me back into shape if I decide to slack off (which I will, I promise you that). So, if you're interested just drop me a line (after you review of course, you slippery bastards Dx) and let me know~

**SO IN CONCLUSION.**

Thank you to everyone who read, favourited and reviewed. You have no idea (really, you don't) of how excited I would get when I got an email. I almost wrote you all replies, even if you didn't actually review (YES YOU, YOU SLIPPERY BASTARDS.) I do beleive it was because of all of your support that I was able to get this done at all (reviews are like crack, man, addicting.)

So please, don't hesitate to drop in with a review, whether it be now or in a few months, whether it be this big long rant about how much you worship me (teehee) or just one word to proclaim your hatred. Whatever works, just send it my way. I will most likely respond to every review that can be logically responded to, so feel free to ask questions of any sort. (I'm very social, I seek out people to talk to in the most bizzare places)

With that being said, I bid you all adieu for now, with a promise that I will swing around in a bit to bombard you all again with my crude behaviour :3

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

**Toodles~**

**Shmee**

_P.S. Thanks again._

_P.P.S Please review._

_P.P.P.S. I love you all._

_P.P.P.P.S. Yes, even you slippery bastards. Feel the love._

_P.P.P.P.P.S._

_CAAAAAAAN YOU FEEEEEEL THE LOOOOOOVE TONIGGGHHHTTTT?_


End file.
